Customer: “I need to complain! This cheese expired in 1123!”

Me: “That’s November of 2023.”

Customer: “Oh… Well, they should make it clearer!”

Me: “Sure, I’ll tell them to make it clearer that our cheese isn’t nine hundred years old.”

This happened back around 2001. I was being served at one of the two returns counters for a faulty item next to a teenage girl. From what I heard and saw, she was returning two “The Sims” game CDs.

Manager: “How can I help you?” 

Customer: “I’ve had these on layby for ages, and I picked them up yesterday after school. When I got them home, I found that they had the wrong game discs in them, which sucks because I was looking forward to playing them. Can I either get my money back or the proper games, please?”

Manager: “Oh, you’re the third person that’s happened to. We can definitely replace those for you.”

Customer: “Thanks heaps. Just to let you know, my bus leaves in fifteen minutes. If I miss it, I’m going to come back and stand here and chat with whoever is here — staff, customer, or the wall — about nothing for half an hour until the next bus.”

Manager: “Um, okay. Well, we shouldn’t take too long.”

The manager radioed through to the entertainment section, and a staff member quickly brought up two copies of the games. 

Manager: “Here you go. Have a nice afternoon.”

Customer: “Thank you loads!”

She grabbed her items, threw them in her backpack, and took off running toward the entrance leading to the bus station.

I finished my business, and out of curiosity, I hung around near the entrance to see if she came back. She didn’t.

I was selling some household items and agreed to do a public meet-up with someone outside a grocery store at 3:00 pm. I also needed groceries, so I did my shopping and was back in my car by 2:50. I messaged the buyer to describe my car and tell her where I was parked. She didn’t answer.

3:15 came and still no reply. I had eggs in the car and didn’t want to keep waiting and using my gas to keep the car cool.

Me: “Hey, if you’re not meeting up today, that’s fine. I just need to know. I have groceries in my car that need to get to the fridge.” 

3:30 came and went. I saw that she had opened the message but hadn’t said anything.

Me: “We’re going to have to reschedule this. I need to go. Let me know when you will be available.” 

I drove home — another fifteen-minute drive — and got my groceries put away.

At 5:45 that night, my phone went off.

Flaky Buyer: “Where are you?”

Me: “At home. We agreed to meet almost three hours ago, and you never showed up or reached out.” 

Flaky Buyer: “Okay, I got busy. Life goes on. I’m going to [Location an hour from my house] right now. Meet me there.”

I may have considered this generous response if she hadn’t opened the messages hours earlier. It could be that she had a small child or someone else was using her phone, but the delay and the eventual reply were not helpful.

Me: “Sorry, I’m not available anymore today. We can meet up this Saturday.”

Flaky Buyer: “This is f****** bulls***!”

She marked my post as spam and blocked me. I reported her as a no-call, no-show and listed the items again. They sold within an hour, and the person actually showed up the next day to get them!

I am a retired family physician. Before the days of computers, two patients arrived at the same time. [Patient #2] was scheduled ten minutes after [Patient #1]. [Patient #2] was having chest pain and was extremely short of breath — actually turning blue. The reception desk called for help.

My assistant got him in a room and started getting vital signs. I sent another assistant to get the crash cart and a third to start oxygen. I went into the hall and picked up the phone to call 911. I picked it up just before it had a chance to ring, and the reception desk was on the line.

[Patient #1] was upset and wanted to know when she would be seen.

Me: “We’re in the middle of a code blue.”

I hung up the phone and called 911. I gave the operator the information and went back to the patient. They were on oxygen and hooked up to an ECG, which showed they were having a heart attack.

By the time the paramedics arrived, we had given them aspirin and nitroglycerin. The paramedics took over, loaded [Patient #2] onto a gurney, and rolled them out through the waiting room to the aide car for transport to the hospital.

My assistant was busy putting away gear, so I went out to the waiting room and got [Patient #1]. I brought her back to an exam room, and she started complaining bitterly.

Patient #1: “I can’t believe I’m being seen out of order! I’ve been waiting for too long!”

Ten minutes had elapsed since she had arrived. I tossed her chart on the desk.

Me: “The reason you waited was that the patient seen before you was dying of a heart attack, and we had to save him! You waited all of ten minutes, and I brought you back myself. What clinic have you been used to going to where you wait less than ten minutes despite a medical emergency? I’d like to go there myself!”

I was involved in a group “interview” once for a company doing game testing, and the interview was actually legitimate. It was more like a group “come in and fill out hiring paperwork” than an actual interview, likely because there was a high turnover rate due to the work being inconsistent.

Once “hired”, I basically had to call in every day and hope they had shifts available, and they could be morning, afternoon, or the dead of night. Workers could also sign up for the “bullpen” list, and if people didn’t show up for their shifts, they’d pull in people from the bullpen to cover.

I literally saw people sleeping in the cafeteria after finishing a night shift so they could sign up for the bullpen a few hours later in the morning, hoping to pick up more hours.

It was fine if you were just looking to earn a bit of extra cash, but it was awful if you needed a consistent schedule and paycheck.